There was a lot of skepticism when it was first announced that the unlikely duo of David Gordon Green and Danny McBride were rebooting the Halloween franchise, especially when the long-running series had drastically fallen victim to the law of diminishing returns. However, all doubts were quickly extinguished when the movie hit theaters in October 2018 and scored the best reviews Michael Myers had seen in 40 years while becoming the highest-grossing installment yet by a massive distance.
Riding a wave of critical and commercial acclaim, back to back sequels Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends were swiftly announced, although we’ll have to wait until 2021 for the iconic serial killer to return after both follow-ups were delayed by a full year as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. A brief teaser trailer was more than enough to whet the appetites of the fanbase, but one former star of the franchise wasn’t impressed with the last effort.
Danielle Harris holds a rare place in Halloween lore, having played Jamie Lloyd in fourth and fifth installments The Return of Michael Myers and The Revenge of Michael Myers, before returning for Rob Zombie’s 2007 reboot and the sequel as a completely different character. In a recent interview, though, the actress admitted that she wasn’t totally on board with what Green and McBride brought to the table, saying:
“I watched it and then I thought, ‘Well, that doesn’t seem like Jamie either, the way that character was portrayed’. I could never have seen me playing it if it was written that way and I don’t think it was written for Jamie, so it really did make sense that I was not a part of that. But when the next one comes up, if I had gotten a call, sure, if there was something super cool that made sense for me, absolutely. I’m not going to ever bite the hand that feeds me and I’m forever indebted to this franchise and I love it. As much as I love Judy Greer as an actress, I did feel like she was miscast. I felt like she was underused for how great she is. So that bummed me out even more.”
Having been involved in two different iterations of the franchise, there’s more than a hint of sour grapes on the 43 year-old’s part that she wasn’t invited back for a third time. After all, the overwhelming majority of fans are more than happy at the renewed success of Halloween, putting Harris firmly in the minority when it comes to her opinion.
Published: Oct 6, 2020 07:25 am